Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Shooting around Horses and mules?

How is the safest way to see if a horse or mule is gun shy and how do you break that?

Start with an air rifle or bb gun , the 22 shorts, then 22 lr, and work up. I haven't had any that get really spooked, a slong as you don't catch them with the muzzle blast., especially braked rifles.

Mine I can get off, sit or lay down , while holding the reins or lead rope and shoot elk. Did it last year, then I dropped a cow and a bull opening day.
Horses seem a might spookier, but they can get use to it.

I sure wouldn't just drop the lead rope or reins though. A lot of times if one spooks and gets going, the other sfigure sopmething must be up and leave the country. I had one horse that ran away with my rifle in the scabbord. I almost had to shoot her to get it back, with my handgun.

As saddlesore says. If you know how to train a pup to funfire then you know how to train a horse or mule. If they are already the spooky or nervous type you have a job on your hands and if they are skittish around gunfire you most probably can't get it out of them.

BCR

Dear Beagle Hunter,

Herein Virginia, I serve as a whipper-in to one of the local fox-hunts. We carry .22 Long Rifle revolvers loaded with rat shot to use in signalling and, in some cases with pig-headed hounds, for discipline. (It is better to pepper a hound's behind with rat shot than have him run out into a busy road and be killed. Or have him slay some elderly lady's cat, etc.) I have fired literally thousands of rounds from the backs of quite an assortment of chargers. The advice you are getting is right on target. Start small. Let the horse see the gun, smell it, etc. Dry fire a time or two. Shout BANG!! a few times when you dry fire. (I know that sounds foolish, but it works.) The horse will startle a bit the first "real" time. (Some will do rather more than startle!).

Then get on, after you have fired several times. Fire your first "real" shots on level, open ground so that the consequences of a possible "spook" are more manageable. Spread the training out over some time; I take days and have sometimes taken weeks. Don't make it a one hour or bust project. Don't blast away right by the horse's ears, especially as you work up to a .45 Colt or whatever. Dismounting and firing a rifle will require a new training process. Just as a jump approached from one direction is, for the horse, an altogether different jump than the very same jump approached from the other direction, a rifle is a different cat than a revolver or pistol. I have only a very few times fired a rifle from "on board." You want a very steady, reliable horse for that! As noted above, they will take off! And the "anxiety of influence" can take a whole pack train off with one "Nervous Nellie." (Many a horse firmly believes that the dumbest fellow horse is far smarter than any human!)

Some horses will never make it. Sad, but true. They just cannot deal with that big bang. Some surprise you. I worked for years on one horse to accustom him to cracking the whip. It was a bear! Yet, that same horse could care less if a revolver was fired from his back. Every horse is a law unto itself. I was once hunting on a "new" horse that had never whipped-in before. I got into a situation where I had to shoot to stop hounds and forgot that the horse had no "shot" training. (This was at a full gallop!) No problem! The horse didn't react at all. An hour later, I had to shoot again from a standstill. Oh, momma!!! I was an instant participant in an "airs above the ground" rodeo. The horse had been so excited by the chase the first time that he hadn't even noticed the shot. The second time, I had his full attention ...

Good luck!

Redcoat

One thing to keep in mind is the fact that you should refrain from doing too much shooting around your horse. A horse will lose their equilibrium if they lose their sense of hearing. So while you may end up with a steady mount for shooting, you'll end up with a stumblefoot on the trail.

One other trick to use is start from a long way off from your horse when shooting. That's how I broke all mine. A good horse will become a little curious as to what you're doing, and come to you, rather than you going to them. This is always a good sign of a horse that will be easy to work with. If he takes off like he's got a fire under his ass, you'll be in for some work, maybe a lost cause.

Last fall here in colorado a father and son were elk hunting on horseback and found some elk they dismounted and they both loaded their rifles they both sighted in on the elk with the father taking the first shot. The son was holding the reins and trying to take a shot at the same time. when the father shot the horses jerked and the son shot the father killing him. tom

Tom, Yep, those horses will do you in very time. Kill you by accident, where a mule will kill you on purpose.

I shoot pigeons off the barn roof with a 22, these horses around here learn very young there is nothing to fear but me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
I never shoot off the back of a horse and always shoot in front of a horse so he can see me and what I'm doing.
Dan

Hi everyone,

I�ve used horses most of my life for shooting. I�ve always started them off with a stockwhip, which is part of their work routine here on cattle work, progress to a .22 and work my way up.

I rarely shoot from the back of a horse, as I would never shoot over their heads, only from the side. That�s not a very comfortable position to shoot from.



I�ve found that approaching game from a horse is far easier than on foot, they are used to livestock so take little notice of a horse around them.

Great reading here, I�ve never seen anything on this subject in Australia, I�m interested in technique�s that you guy�s use in the US.

Thanks for the great read, Ian.



Edited to add:

I never try teaching a fresh horse anything, after working around and looking for cattle doing 30 miles a day of so. (Better than fast short bursts.) Will soon have a horse steadied down and ready to learn. That may be opening and shutting gates, or any other work related function. That is the time to start introducing him/her to noise.



Some horses will never be steady around gun fire, but unless they are properly introduced to it, most won�t.

I've never seen a horse I couldn't shoot off of. Some just farther off of than others. Tim